tumpline

American  

[tuhmp-lahyn] / ˈtʌmpˌlaɪn /

noun

1. a strap or sling passed around the chest or forehead to help support a pack carried on a person's back.

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tumpline British  

/ ˈtʌmpˌlaɪn /

noun

1. Also called: tump.  (in the US and Canada, esp formerly) a leather or cloth band strung across the forehead or chest and attached to a pack or load in order to support it

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Etymology

Origin of tumpline

1790–1800; tump (earlier mattump, metomp < Southern New England Algonquian < proto-Eastern Algonquian *mat- empty root appearing in names of manufactured objects + *-a·pəy string) + line ¹

Example Sentences

DeJong is a big, burly, bearded Canadian, the kind of guy who wears wool plaid when it�s 90 degrees and still uses a tumpline.

From Time Magazine Archive

This is known as a tumpline, and consists of a band of leather to cross the head, and two long thongs to secure the pack.

From Camp and Trail by White, Stewart Edward

The water was so high that they could run most of the rapids, and stretches that they had formerly toiled up with tumpline or tracking-line they now covered with the speed of a bullet.

From Northern Diamonds by Pollock, Frank Lillie

He knew that there would be long portages where they would have to carry the supplies with a tumpline; and he also knew that nothing is so wearing on a novice.

From Northern Diamonds by Pollock, Frank Lillie

One night one of them ate a piece out of my tumpline, which was partially under my head, while I slept.

From The Long Labrador Trail by Wallace, Dillon